The week that was in Thailand news: Throwing the toys out of the pram

[rooster59]

The week that was in Thailand news: Throwing the toys out of the pram

 

 

Thailand went back to school this week, but everyone was behaving like children. So why shouldn't I!

 

Once again it was shown that the Thais will never, ever grow up. Evidence of this fact was prevalent all over the news pages of Thaivisa. Additionally, in a week when foreign retirees got what many saw as a further nail in their Thai coffin, "guests" of the Kingdom joined in the fun with dozens of forum curmudgeons behaving just as childlike as the Thai adults they so frequently choose to admonish. 

 

They did this via the comments section of the stories few had actually read. Maybe they can't read or get stuck by more characters than Twitter allows. If that is you stop right here and go directly to comments without passing "Go" or even picking up your pension. If not "'Read' on MacDuff, And damn'd be him that first cries 'Hold, enough!'"

 

Leading the way for the Thai version of childishness was the appalling reenactment of the rape of the Norwegian tourist on Koh Phangan. 

 

How much better it would have been if the police on the holiday island had just made their quick arrest, which it was, and - quietly - basked in the fact that they had actually done their job for once. No....that would be far too adult.

 

Instead they paraded the suspect with his handcuffs "Vaselined-out" as he starred with a Thai woman wearing an absurd, bright and ill-fitting blonde wig. She looked like a grotesque parody of soon to be prime minister Boris Johnson. This was clearly designed to show us idiots what a 26 year old female Norwegian victim looks like.....

 

The suspect was then taken to the beach where he was egged on to "mount" this bewigged creature as leering and jeering officials from the governor to the local head of police looked on with smiles on their faces. Faeces more like.

 

I've seen a thousand lurid reenactments in Thailand but this one took the biscuit. All that was missing were the relatives of the unfortunate victim having a pop at "Ai Moss" - that would have really got the puerile reporters into a frenzy. 

 

Frankly, I hope the 26 year old lady was not following the news. No one would blame her for going home and trying to forget all about Thailand where not only was she the victim of a serious crime perpetrated by a jailbird who should have been rotting inside, but one whose case was treated with such scandalous and unnecessary razzamatazz and frivolity. 

 

It was as if Big Joke was going to pop out of the Phangan undergrowth with a vinyl board under his arm and his BBF Prawit was going to endorse Rolex with a few smiles for the cameras. Nothing would surprise Rooster anymore in this land of baby-faced showmanship. 

 

To the victim I would like to apologize on behalf of this nation. They know not what they do. 

 

Compounding the childishness, and lack of thought, was the shopper at Makro who said that she always left her young son in the car playing on a phone while she did the shopping. He got trapped inside and fell asleep - he could have been dead in the heat for all she cared. Next time I suggest that he do the shopping and you, "Khun Mae" stay in the car, it'll do everyone a favor especially if you pass out.

 

Have these people not read the stories of how little ones left in vehicles can die within minutes in the extraordinary heat? Yes, the air-con was on but what if he turned off the engine or it fell silent. When does a parent in this country grow up enough to have children.....I know I'm a fine one to talk, but at least I care about safety. 

 

Then we had another parent adding insult to infant injury. She not only left her kid in the car but had the sheer temerity to ask for money from a woman who slightly damaged her vehicle trying to save him. Surely it's time to introduce a voluntary sterilization program just in case they pass on any more genes....

 

As ridiculous as these stories were the reaction to the cabinet decision to impose mandatory health insurance on long term visitors to Thailand was just as child-like. For page after tedious page the forum went round in circles as tantrums were displayed that would get even a pacifist's child slapped. 

 

Xenophobia they screamed. Another nail in my coffin, they yelled. What do they want, blood?, they bleated. I'm off, Panama here I come. Don't wipe your feet on the way out...blah blah blah....

 

Actually the Thais just want you to be able to pay for your healthcare and stop sponging on their system by not paying your bills. A system that most people living the so called dream in Thailand have never paid into.  

 

And before you castigate Rooster for being an "I'm all right Jack" Thai resident I'll have you know that I have money in the bank legitimately earned in Thailand - on which I paid 22% tax to the tune of millions of baht.  Money that I keep aside to pay for my health care should it be needed. I'm a long term Thai resident but have no more right to free or cut price treatment than retirees do. The difference is I'm not complaining - I happen to love it here even if I do throw my toys out of the pram from time to time.

 

We all know that the vocal majority on Thaivisa are the tip of an unpleasant iceberg. There are many good people who think clearly, have reasoned opinions and weigh up their options when news like this is announced. It's just a pity that usually they keep themselves to themselves. If they do take to the comments section they are drowned out in childish bawling by people who profess to be in the know. People who conclude their banal statements with sentence finishers like "End Of". 

 

The real nature of the good and thoughtful people on Thaivisa was borne out by the results of a Thaivisa straw poll that suggested that two thirds of respondents actually agreed with the cabinet's proposals. (A survey that only served to inspire yet more posters to throw out yet more "khong len" from those prams).

 

It is perfectly reasonable that long stay visitors to Thailand - even retirees - should have medical insurance and it should be compulsory. Or they should have the means  - through millions of baht not just a few hundred thousand - to pay for their care. Why would you expect to do anything else coming half way round the world to a foreign country when you are over 70, 60 or even 50?

 

Most of the negative reaction comes from Thaivisa's 40% ageing British clientele. They got used to the National Health Service from their Nanny State and are now horrified that the authorities in the UK are perpetually trying to deny them healthcare in the land of their birth because they have moved abroad. Suck it up folks and do something about that rather than whinging like so many spoiled brats and taking it out on Thailand.

 

Other posters who should know better are those who profess to know about medical issues. These come crawling out of the cyber woodwork making it appear that TV is populated by none other than doctors with nurses for wives. Here they were on a story about blood infected with HIV at Bumrungrad and a thread started by someone who ghoulishly asked if they knew people who had died from HIV/AIDS. 

 

Childish playground-style spats resulted between supposed adults over who knows more about the transmission of HIV, the likelihood of getting the virus, the costs of treatment and the outcomes for those who end up needing treatment. Why go onto such forums when you know nothing - is it fun for you to scaremonger? Won't your Thai missus listen to you or can't you communicate with her in Thai? Either way, please keep your frustrations to yourself.

 

It is dangerous regurgitating interminable claptrap online whether it is xenophobic bashing of Thai people or the spouting of unsubstantiated or out-of-date drivel regarding medical issues. Just give it a rest. Take a "bex" or talk to the next person on the bar stool. 

 

By this point I'm sure many readers, if they haven't turned to mumsy in disgust, are going to comments to complain. So I'd better switch to having another go at the Thais....then maybe they'll feel better....

 

What was the following parent thinking? This was the immigration policeman in Pattaya who let his five year old wander out onto the corridor balcony high up in the hotel while he slept. She lived which was of course wonderful in the normal, human response kind of way. But tragic in that she must likely return to that so-called father who showed scant regard for her welfare. 

 

Meanwhile, Thais were implored by the Labor Department to continue to rat on foreigners for doing their jobs. What nonsense; much of the low wage jobs are done by migrants because the locals are too lazy to work for minimum wage. Get out there and do an honest day's work for an honest day's pocket-money. You'll feel better for it and mummy and daddy might buy you a fake chocolate Beng-Beng from Sewen.

 

Which brings me neatly onto the German guy called Mr Max who was helping out his Thai wife in Pak Chong at the family BBQ stall selling chicken while the wife's mum was ill. Stop telling me that he needs a work permit and get a bloomin' life. Read the story. The guy was back in Thailand while his wife gave birth in her hometown - why shouldn't he help out the family? It's called being human. 

 

Show me one case where a foreigner was doing such a casual thing and got prosecuted or thrown out of Thailand. I promise to investigate and put it at the top of the news for all to see. Yes, I thought so. You don't have any do you - it's just your childish imagination that wants to score points even though you have not a shred of evidence.

 

With Rooster's ranting reaching record rage levels - the "R's you don't learn in Thai school and the toys scattered far and wide - it may be best to digress to a few more gentler topics before my Bad Manners cause me to Buster Bloodvessel. But let's continue with the theme of children, they like a good joke too....

 

A Democrat - remember those that used to have a political party in Thailand - said it was time to do away with school uniforms in LOS. That sounded like the the most childish suggestion of some junior high student council. Stop uniforms in Thailand? Stop them in schools? Are you serious....the next thing you'll be talking about is educational reform or, shock horror, training the teachers to teach! Silly boy! Go home and write 100 lines: "I must wear Khaki". 

 

Then there were all the irate Thai netizens - who invariably have a collective mental age that would make retirees look young - who signed a petition calling for the embalmed body of child eating cannibal Si Quey to be given a decent burial rather than kept on show at the Sirirat Medical Museum. Please.....don't these so called adults know that stories of the "Bogey Man" are used by us parents to keep the little ones in their place.....without it we are powerless to refuse their requests for iPads and iPhones when they are still six but have already learned to control us. 

 

Leave Si Quey on display - in fact get some other glass cases prepared so we can display members of the junta if they ever do us the honor of dying. Now that would be scary. 

 

Parent to child in 2050: "Johnny do your homework or we'll leave you alone with the General".

 

Apropos Big Too told us this week that he would do "better and better" if called upon to front the next government. Like a child he assumes that we now accept that he was "called upon" before. You weren't and you haven't been now. And you can stick all your massive infrastructure projects up your junta. Those were envisioned before you came along to claim the credit.

 

One such project is the much vaunted High Speed Rail project linking Don Muang, Suwannaphum and U-Tapao via that lovely family resort called Pattaya. This week Thailand's richest man - Dhanin Chearavanont, who is really a grocer - proposed to build it with some mates. I hope he knows his railways tracks from his onions. Rooster will be glad if he takes some of the cars off the road as I shall be driving to the Eastern Seaboard in the first ten years of the railway's operation just to be on the safe side. Fancy saying that on Thailand's roads!

 

Talking of QUOTES - the Queen Of The Eastern Seaboard - Sophon TV banged on about the state of the beach with all the speedboat operators refusing to use what is commonly known as a pier in preference for the sand to moor their boats. The authorities in Pattaya have shown as much sense of advance planning as a newborn in hopelessly underestimating demand at Bali Hai. Now they are left high and dry with an almighty mess.

 

Nearly as much mess, in fact, as the British man who jumped from the sixth floor to the first on Thursday afternoon at Central Festival. Thai media claimed that Central had trained their staff to mop up and get the shoppers back without waiting for police or rescue services to arrive. 

 

I mean it is not as if they can do anything and who cares about the law anyway. Shift the corpse to hospital and be damned about any regulations. We have money to think about.

 

Besides, rules are for children and their teachers, aren't they?

 

Rooster
 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-05-18

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[Samui Bodoh]

Excellent rant!

 

Now that it is out of your system, can I suggest a few tokes and a hug?

 

It is medicine now... and hopefully our insurance will cover it!

 

 

[KhunFred]

Except that we are NOT "guests".....we are CUSTOMERS. We have value to the Thai economy. It's time the Thai government recognized what most Thais already know.

[AYJAYDEE]

Nonsense. You missed the point entirely! 

[madmitch]

Your best rant in ages!

[Nobbie49]

Ever tried decaf Rooster?

[TobyIssan]

I am posting for first time on TV, very good rant rooster, especially medical insurance, although most gofund me that i see are for tourists who fall of motorbikes, should be some coverage for those as well.

 

Regards

[biggles45]

" I'm a long term Thai resident but have no more right to free orcut price treatment than retirees do."

 

Yes you do!! 

I recall that you worked here, presumably with a WP? If so you would have been entitled to enrol in the Thai social service system. You can continue to pay monthly fees and keep your coverage, even after you stop work. A friend had two hips replaced under the system after he stopped working. 

[Nobbie49]

That is only until you're 55 AND if you are not a director of the company you would claim ss under.  Worse: if you happen to be a director your wife, Thai or not, is not entitled to any ss service either.

[mindfulness]

No new news here in ‘the week that was’, ‘ding ding, move along the bus please’. 

 

It really is a clear sick a broken society here, full of bs ‘victorian’ egotistical social status ‘do you know who I am’, and ‘nationalistic prejudice’ that somewhat seems to be slowly progressing into downright bigoted racism.

A enforcement and legal system that we’ll dare I say, and to finish it all off. 

 

Any updates on that rotting smell of a guy ‘big joke’ ? 

 

 

[Guderian]

Never mind the tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of Baht that many expats retired here plough into the local economy in many ways every year, from supporting their Thai family to using Thai tradespeople, long-term expats invariably pay large amounts of tax here. It's just that most of it is indirect taxation, such as VAT and excise duty on alcohol or cigarettes, rather than direct taxes paid on employment income. What's the difference, at the end of the day it's all money in the bank so that the big children can buy some submarines or tanks to play with. Or does Rooster think that the thousands of Baht the typical retiree pays in VAT and excise duty every month is somehow inferior to the income tax he pays, so that he's fully entitled to Thai state care but nobody else is? Money is money, after all, and nowhere should that be truer than in Thailand.

[TheHangingJudge]

The sad truth is it’s all true.

Well done.

[Andyfez]

Excellent energetic rant. I take it your missus is back... ???????????? 

Totally agree with you about insurance. I've known so many people over my years here in Thailand that have slowly faded because they can't afford even the most basic medications. I feel sorry for their kids, and wives also, who in some cases sell everything they have before the farang finally dies.

At least Americans are used to the idea of taking insurance, but yes, us Brits often just assume I'll be alright Jack.

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by Andyfez

[55Jay]

Mandatory medical insurance will solve the hospital non-payment problem the same way the new Immigration money rules have put dodgy visa agents out of business.  

 

Curing a headache by chopping off an elbow. 

[elcaro]

Beautiful rant and personally best one I have seen your write. You really worded my thoughts when reading news and posts on thaivisa forum.

 

[guest879]

I personaly know a guy in prak nam pran who got an 'on the spot' fine for putting the sign out at his thai wives eatery. he refused it and went through the courts and paid the 6000thb fine for not having a work permit.  there are also several cases of guys in their own bars being fined for talking to customers. 

[roo860]

The NHS system in the UK isn't free, you contribute all your working life through National Insurance contributions.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[portly]

Wonderful; 

An utterly wonderful read   

 

I wouldn't decribe it as a rant exactly, rather more like an informed , very intelligent and unbiased report.

 

Thanks

[sambum]

Perhaps the number of people not paying their hospital bills would decrease dramatically if said hospitals dramatically decrease their obscenely high charges? I saw in one travel guide that Thailand has a very high standard of healthcare, but they forgot (?) to add that in most private hospitals, it comes at a very high price.

[ianezy0]

An awesome, entertaining rant Sir.

a Cock a Doodle Do to you. ????

[4675636b596f75]

20 hours ago, KhunFred said:

Except that we are NOT "guests".....we are CUSTOMERS. We have value to the Thai economy. It's time the Thai government recognized what most Thais already know.

We are consumers.  We consume Thai goods and sometimes Thais and in return we bring and spend our money here.  

[potless]

22 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Most of the negative reaction comes from Thaivisa's 40% ageing British clientele. They got used to the National Health Service from their Nanny State and are now horrified that the authorities in the UK are perpetually trying to deny them healthcare in the land of their birth because they have moved abroad. Suck it up folks and do something about that rather than whinging like so many spoiled brats and taking it out on Thailand.

  I did enjoy your thread however the above paragraph over simplifies the bizarre attitude of the U.K.government. Several years ago under a review of the N.H.S., a proposal was put forward to enable British expats to access the N.H.S. free of charge. Not only was the proposal rejected but a surcharge of 50% was imposed.  If a "refugee" turns up in a boat on the beach at Dover they will qualify for free treatment.                                                                                                                                            Also a campaign was launched to reinstate index linking of pensions for all expats wherever they choose to live. The then "not so Prime" Minister David Cameron's attitude was shut up and go away or he would remove the 20% tax free allowance for expats  and the campaign itself was defeated  on the grounds of cost. Britain gives away billions in foreign aid every year. They could have taken the money from that budget.                                                                                                                                              Then the decision taken by the Foreign Office/ embassy to withdraw help in the form of income letters which other embassies seem to have no problem with.                                                                          There is an overt hostility towards U.K. expats, maybe born of jealousy by miserable bureaucrats who are stuck in there own crappy world with their ugly wives.                                                                         

I, and I think some may agree or not, feel less threatened by the government of Thailand, than the unbritish government.  

Edited May 19, 2019 by potless

[Odysseus123]

2 hours ago, 55Jay said:

Mandatory medical insurance will solve the hospital non-payment problem the same way the new Immigration money rules have put dodgy visa agents out of business.  

 

Curing a headache by chopping off an elbow. 

There is no hospital non-payment issue.

The debt is peanuts and involves many others rather than just 'farangs'

A clear cut "if you tell a big lie often enough" it will stick.A la Joseph Goebbels.

 

I put it it down to the severe lack of intellectual opposition in Thailand.

No wonder the mongers and fraudsters thrived..for a time..in their cozy little bolt hole.

[BritManToo]

22 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Actually the Thais just want you to be able to pay for your healthcare and stop sponging on their system by not paying your bills. A system that most people living the so called dream in Thailand have never paid into.  

 

And before you castigate Rooster for being an "I'm all right Jack" Thai resident I'll have you know that I have money in the bank legitimately earned in Thailand - on which I paid 22% tax to the tune of millions of baht.  Money that I keep aside to pay for my health care should it be needed.

1) As previously stated by many, white folk aren't the foreigners who didn't pay their hospital bills.

2) 80% of Thais have never paid income tax.

3) If you've been earning and paying tax in Thailand, why aren't you in the Thai SS scheme? 

[Jane Dough]

5 hours ago, Nobbie49 said:

Ever tried decaf Rooster?

Nah...that's like playing Scrabble with a pocket dictionary.

 

Rooster

[4675636b596f75]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

why aren't you in the Thai SS scheme?

Scheme eh?  Sounds sketchy.

[khunken]

Some good stuff & some bad. As one who didn't make a comment about the health annoucement and who has paid for every hospital visit, both private & public, I totally disagree with Roosters comments on that subject.

His empoyer's (The Nation) article on the number  of long-stay expats (32 million) was totally incomprehensible and the other article from one of the ministries about long-stay expats not paying for treatment in public hospitals lookesdlike it was pulled out of someone's ass.

I strongly suggest that it's tourists rather than long-stay expats that are the main culprits for non-payment.

Having paid almost B90,000 to a health insurance company for 2 years for the privilage of them denying paying for a small treatment, I stopped that rort. Currently the 'recommended' insurers quote B100,000 plus (those that even would insure me), I will not be extorted again.

Why oh why can't the health ministry get health insurers to provide plans that are targeted to the cost of public hospital treatment which I am happy to use and give long-stay expats an affordable alternative?

[SupermarineS6B]

3 hours ago, Andyfez said:

Excellent energetic rant. I take it your missus is back... ???????????? 

Totally agree with you about insurance. I've known so many people over my years here in Thailand that have slowly faded because they can't afford even the most basic medications. I feel sorry for their kids, and wives also, who in some cases sell everything they have before the farang finally dies. 

At least Americans are used to the idea of taking insurance, but yes, us Brits often just assume I'll be alright Jack.

 

Ha ha....... You said it...... The whole deal revolves around the farang...... Pray that the F$%^$#r doesn't die !  The farang probably paid for it all anyway so it's basically just trying to keep the meal ticket alive.....       (who in some cases sell everything they have before the farang finally dies).  If only the dim wits in power could only see this ......They should be praying also that the Farang stays and remains healthy..... but it looks like a case of small willie syndrome....

[maxcorrigan]

What rooster and others seems to miss, is someone like myself 80 years old plus two minor strokes, the annual insurance fee for me would sky high, and i would not be covered for any recurring illnesses i might get in relation to this, so pretty useless, but still forced to pay if i want an extension!

I should add it does'nt apply to me as of yet, being on a non O marriage, so stiil waiting to see what might or not might happen in the future, plus how it will affect people married to an ex-government employee at the moment getting some free treatment at government hospitals, again surmising if this is enforced across all extensions, let's hope not !

[user46546545]

NEWSFLASH- people are still entitled to their own opinions and have a right to voice them despite self important people stating otherwise.